Enduring Fuchsia Crape Myrtle

Crape Myrtles have come a long way since they arrived in Georgia in the 18th century, and one big change has been the transformation from a small tree to a compact bush. These shorter, shrub forms open up many possibilities for bringing bright colors into your summer shrub beds, and for brightness and foliage interest, as well as toughness and drought resistance, look no further than the Enduring Fuchsia Crape Myrtle. In spring the new leaves are rich red, and almost as soon as they turn dark green the first blooms begin. These are classic crape myrtle frilly, textured like crepe paper and produced in profusion in clusters a the ends of every branch. Electric pink, they beam out a message of ‘summer party’ across your beds, and it’s a party you can take full part in, without spending time caring for tricky shrubs. Tuck it in around your house, or out in your beds – wherever you plant it you can be sure it will thrive. Free of the unsightly foliage problems that made old crape myrtles summer eyesores, and freely blooming into the fall, this frilly fuchsia flirt is going to be an enduring favorite in your garden – no doubt about it.

Growing the Enduring Fuchsia Crape Myrtle

Size and Appearance

The Enduring Fuchsia Crape Myrtle is a robust shrub, growing within 5 years to be about 4 feet tall, and perhaps reaching 6 feet tall and wide when mature. The bark on young stems is a rich orange-red, darkening with age. Once branches are 2 or 3 years old they are reddish-brown, and begin to peel in strips, exposing different shades of browns and golds in a very attractive way. This is an interesting winter feature of this shrub. The leaves are leathery, smooth and glossy, oval in shape and about 2 inches long and 1 inch wide. New leaves are a strong and vibrant deep red, gradually turning to a rich green for the summer. In fall the leaves can sometimes turn vibrant shades or orange and red, before falling.

Flowers develop in clusters at the end of every new stem. These pyramidal clusters are 5 inches long and 4 inches wide, carrying many rounded flower buds. These open in succession, so flowering continues for about 3 weeks, and there can be as many as 150 flowers in every cluster. By simply removing the flower head when it fades, more side-shoots develop, carrying more flowers, so blooming is indeed ‘enduring’, beginning in June and ending sometime in September, depending on your local climate. The individual flowers are unique, with a papery texture and radiating frilly petals surrounding a bright yellow center. The petals are vibrantly colored in bright purplish red to deep pink, a deep fuchsia tone that is rich and warm. Towards the end of the blooming season you can stop dead-heading and leave seed pods to develop. This are interesting, and yellow-brown, adding value for winter.

Using the Enduring Fuchsia Crape Myrtle in Your Garden

The Enduring Fuchsia Crape Myrtle, with its compact size, is ideal for shrub beds, planted singly or in groups. Use it at the back of small beds, or in the middle-zone of larger ones, and it will give your beds a substantial color lift through that critical mid-summer period, and into the fall. The delicate scent of the flowers is charming as you pass by, and butterflies and hummingbirds are attracted to the blossoms. This shrub can also be grown in tubs and planters, for sunny terraces and patios.

Hardiness

The Enduring Fuchsia Crape Myrtle will overwinter in zone 6, but with some winter damage. It should grow to about 3 feet tall by fall, and still be filled with blooms – they form on new branches. It grows well from zone 7 to zone 10, and does well in areas with long, hot and dry summers. Plants in tubs can stand outside all winter from zone 8 – in cooler zones plant out temporarily through the winter months in a garden bed, or store in a cool shed or garage.

Sun Exposure and Soil Conditions

Full sun is ideal for the Enduring Fuchsia Crape Myrtle. It shows reduced flowering with only a small amount of shade. It grows well in all well-drained soils, including poor soil and urban soil, but not in wet soils. Water regularly when newly-planted, but after that it very drought resistant and thrives in heat and sunshine.

Maintenance and Pruning

The Enduring Fuchsia Crape Myrtle has been specially bred to resist unsightly leaf diseases that plagued older varieties, especially powdery mildew and cercospora leaf spot. The foliage stays fresh and clean all summer. Pests don’t normally cause any problems, and even deer rarely eat it.

Very little pruning is needed, but a light trim of the branches of the previous year, in early spring, will keep it neat and bushy. Older plants can have some of the branches cut back shorter, to encourage new growth to invigorate it. Never trim new leafy stems, as this removes the developing flower clusters.

History and Origin of the Enduring Fuchsia Crape Myrtle

When the crape myrtle, Lagerstroemia indica, arrived in Charleston, South Carolina in 1786, it was a sensation. It had come via England from China and went on to become a staple of Southern gardens. Leaf diseases were a problem, so in the 1960s hybrids with another species from India, Lagerstroemia fauriei, were developed, to give the resulting hybrids better resistance.

Joshua Kardos is half of the company Plant Introductions, Inc. His partner is Michael Dirr, the well-known horticulturist from the University of Georgia. Based in Watkinsville, Georgia, Joshua took seed from plants of the Berry Dazzle Crape Myrtle (‘Gamad VI’) and grew the seedlings for study. Among them he found a plant in 2008 with unique features, and named it `PIILAG B3`. After extensive observations it was patented in 2015. Star® Roses and Plants have released it as part of their Enduring Summer™ range of crape myrtles, with the name Enduring Fuchsia.

Buying the Enduring Fuchsia Crape Myrtle at the Tree Center

We have come a long way since the days of tall lilac crape myrtles. Join all those happy and successful gardeners who use these smaller versions as summer garden shrubs. Order the Enduring Fuchsia Crape Myrtle today, because popular plants like this one are very soon gone.